evolve

Angels on the sideline,
Puzzled and amused.
Why did Father give these humans free will?
Now they're all confused.

Don't these talking monkeys know that
Eden has enough to go around?
Plenty in this holy garden, silly old monkeys,
Where there's one, you're bound to divide,
Right in two.

Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.

Father blessed them all with reason.
And this is what they choose.
Monkey, killing monkey, killing monkey.
Over pieces of the ground.

Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They forge a blade,
And where there's one they're bound to divide it,
Right in two.
- Tool "Right In Two"

We keep killing each other. Through all of human history, we seem to have been unable to find the "civil" in "civilization." We empower thieves, liars, and murderers to guide our lives. We foolishly place our trust with elected idiots who only perpetuate the ongoing entropy and discord. And we tolerate it. Well, not all of us. Not yet.

We can recline in comfort, open the newspaper or turn on the television or computer, and experience the world filtered through our eyes and into our minds. We see the atrocities around us, but they seem so secondhand and distant -- surreal or unreal. They seem such a part of another place, another time. Though they're here in the present, we don't necessarily have to attach those tragedies to our own lives. Yes, vicarious. I don't want to lose hope or faith in the general kindness and lenity of people, but complacency, apathy, and even a sense of misanthropy can drown us in the torrent of constantly updated "bad news." In most instances, some of us who are beyond the strife succumb to a feeling of helplessness. How we would like to do something to end a murderous and unnecessary war. How we would like to consign every crooked politician on the planet to prison. How we'd like to prevent genocide. How we would like to provide food and housing and medicine to the malnourished masses. How we like to see the culture advance beyond battle lines of avarice, intolerance, and corruption.

And if you don't, you have no place among the elite. For example, if you are actually callow enough to believe that "they hate us for our freedom" then I suppose it's okay when soldiers die for a pointless political war. Just because a few delusional and bloodthirsty fundamentalist parasites fly planes into buildings does not adequately justify an international multimedia brainwashing and manslaughter extravaganza, especially when it serves absolutely no greater goal to quell further violence. Yes, violence breeds violence until it blossoms out of control. That is why the shadow of terrorism looms larger by the day. There are ways to deal with the current climate of antagonism without falling into the morass of propaganda-supported mutually assured destruction. Look deeper.

For all of you esteemed elected public officials, here ya' go... it's not too complicated. So pay attention to someone in the proletariat for once. Stay off their hallowed, allegedly sacred "holy ground" and cease interference in their affairs. You suits can continue to purchase the precious black sludge so the folks in the city and the 'burbs can fuel up the Ford Excursion. Admittedly, it's slightly more complicated than that, but I'm not going into my foreign policy plan here and now. This is a blog, after all, not a manifesto. Any politician who wants a face-to-face sit-down can feel free to contact me. If I have the time and energy, I might deign to give you a civics and policy lesson. Does that sound elitist? So what?

Elitism, a term too-often disparaged. No, the word should not to be shunned, though it is often misused -- as if "elitism" should carry a negative connotation. Lose your preconceptions, because elitism is not defined by wealth or social status (despite what the tabloids attempt to tell you). Elitism is a state of mind, when one can rise above mere acceptance of the whatever the mainstream and the propaganda machines direct at you. When you hold yourself to a higher standard, destroy myopia, and ask questions not only of what we're told, but ask questions of ourselves. We must advance and evolve beyond "choosing sides" (be it borders or patriotism or facsimile public officials spit straight out of the corporate copy machine).

You don't have to be liberal. You don't have to be conservative. Or Libertarian, socialist, federalist, anarchist, or a Whig. You just have to be a human being, with compassion and desire. Desire to see change for the better. Revolution begins one mind at a time. Open your eyes. Evolve.